Despite considerable progress that organizations have made during the past 20 years to increase the representation of women at board level, they still hold few board seats. Drawing on a qualitative study involving 30 companies with women directors in the United Kingdom, the United States, and Ghana, we investigate how the relationship between gender in the boardroom and corporate governance operates. The findings indicate that the presence of a minority of women on the board has an insignificant effect on board performance. Yet the chairperson's role is vital in leading the change for recruiting and evaluating candidates and their commitment to the board with diversity and governance in mind. Our study also sheds light on the multifaceted reasons why women directors appear to be resisting the discourse of gender quotas. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Accounting narratives and impression management on social media In this paper, we examine the defensive and assertive impression management strategies and the impact of firm performance on accounting narratives by investigating the earnings disclosures of FTSE 100 companies on Twitter. Social media has become the prevailing venue for organisational self-presentation because it provides firms with more control over the image they intend to establish and maintain through the communication and content they deliver online. Our findings show that firms minimise the disclosures of negative information but employ various patterns and dissemination techniques to emphasise positive information. Specifically, improving performers are more willing to post and disseminate earnings-related tweets to achieve a higher degree of stakeholder engagement than declining performers. Based on these findings, we conclude that firms present themselves on social media opportunistically to construct a positive public image.

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In this paper, we examine the defensive and assertive impression management strategies and the impact of firm performance on accounting narratives by investigating the earnings disclosures of FTSE 100 companies on Twitter. Social media has become the prevailing venue for organisational self-presentation because it provides firms with more control over the image they intend to establish and maintain through the communication and content they deliver online. Our findings show that firms minimise the disclosures of negative information but employ various patterns and dissemination techniques to emphasise positive information. Specifically, improving performers are more willing to post and disseminate earnings-related tweets to achieve a higher degree of stakeholder engagement than declining performers. Based on these findings, we conclude that firms present themselves on social media opportunistically to construct a positive public image.

This paper aims to investigate the extent to which greenhouse gas (GHG)-sensitive companies in the FTSE 100 disclose carbon emission information in their annual reports and standalone reports during the period of 2004-2012, and how they respond to the launch of legally binding GHG reduction schemes-the EU Emission Trading Scheme (EU ETS) and the Climate Change Act (CCA). Design/methodology/approach A 42-item disclosure index is constructed to analyse the quality of corporate GHG disclosures. We initially chart the development of corporate GHG disclosure from 2004 to 2012, analyse the trend of disclosure development and compare variances for the convergence of disclosures. Subsequently we carry out a t-test to assess the significance of post-EU ETS and-CCA changes and the difference between GHG trading account holders and non-account holders. This is the first paper that has examined the regulatory effects on GHG disclosures in an environment where GHG emission triggers direct cost for companies.